What defines Mainers tends to show up loudly at these events, and I am slowly trying to put my finger on it. Rugged independence. Strong opinions. Sustainable living. A tendency to take on all the big issues while eeking out creative lifestyles and surviving against - well - odds stacked pretty heavily against them. The weather is tough. The economy tougher. Yet from both sides of the political arena you have hale and hearty neighbors that share a common ground that they argue loudly about preserving. All the while chanting "Quality of life....quality of life....quality of life.."
The Common Ground Fair is chock full of made in Maine experiences. It's in a remote location in the middle of the state, and thousands of people arrive to celebrate. You ride across fields in an antique tractor pulled wagon to the large fairground. All of the vendors are local, persevering, and proud. Knitters, spinners, boat builders, soap makers, beekeepers, potters, felters, jewelry makers, and farmers. Lots of farmers. All organic farmers. They are strict about who gets to sell what. Lots of political organizations are there as well - and you can go learn or debate about health care, offshore wind farming, fisheries, pesticides, wildlife, forestry, or countless other issues that affect us here here in Maine. The food selections were tough, and I finally settled on a yummy Mediterranean -ish eggplant sandwich. Which got me thinking. All of the ingredients were supposed to be local and organic, and I'm wondering how the heck they were able to grow that many eggplants here in Maine. My own few eggplants planted in richly composted raised beds are approximately the same size as when I planted them in early June - about 4 inches high sprouting 2-3 pairs of leaves. I felt a little suspicious. Then I needed an energy booster, and started looking for a cup of coffee, knowing I had seen signs somewhere. Now of course coffee is not grown in Maine, but I guess they cleared vendors who roast it here, and buy from good practice farmers in other places. My favorite coffee roaster from my home town was there, and as I know they have great coffee, I stopped there. hoping also for one of their wonderful cookies, but no such luck. "You didn't bring any cookies?" I asked plaintively. "No, we don't bake without sugar - maybe next year we'll make something with honey..." "You mean there's no sugar anywhere at this fair?!!?" (I'd seen banners for pie and ice cream.....even fried dough!!) "Nope, not supposed to be." Hmmm, now who decides that I start to wonder. Granted, I hadn't seen one of the bezillion children at the fair whigging out or throwing a tantrum. But I needed a pick-me-up. Why coffee and not sugar? I started arguing with myself. Neither products are exactly local. And both can be 'processed' or refined in healthier ways.. And don't we all know by now that words like 'organic,' 'natural,' 'chemical-free,' etc. are subject to interpretation..........? OK, I'm picking an argument where there isn't really one. I just needed a sugar fix. But it is always good to question the rules, right? Hey, allowing for equal time, I also questioned the allowed vendors at the Lobster Festival - where they were selling (I kid you not) Deep-fried Twinkies. ( No, I couldn't bring myself to try them...) The point is.....there are a lot of strong opinions of PC up here. And a lot of people trying hard to get it right.
The film festival, which is all documentaries, was also stacked heavily with made in Maine and local issues like fisheries and conservation and such. For some befuddling reason they gave the 'best of weekend' award to a French film about poverty in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was our least favorite film. Though beautifully shot, it seemed kind of pointless, and a rather arrogant glimpse of 'those' poor people, with no insight whatsoever about a global or otherwise vision of how to change glaring poverty in third world countries. In a weekend filled with very good films it seemed oddly out of sync with the common ground of good common sense. My filmmaker daughter was here to share the event and we agreed on our favorites of the festival - Philosopher Kings http://www.philosopherkingsmovie.com/ , offering up great words of wisdom and perspectives of custodians at some of America's elite universities, and October Country http://www.octobercountryfilm.com/ , a penetrating and poignant look at a dysfunctional but loving family strapped by poverty, abuse, violence, teen pregnancy, and recyclical patterns of failure and victimization. (sounds cheery, huh?) Neither particularly Maine films.....but both stirred interesting discussion and food for thought. I guess we actually missed many of the more intrinsically Maine films, but the weekend discussions were - as you come to expect in Maine - thought provoking, argumentative, and far reaching. Very different, tho in ways hard to describe, than film discussions at the VA film festival, which are sometimes embarrassingly academic and unsubstantial. The weekend wrapped with an interesting history doc about the evolution of the environmental movement - Earth Days. Recommended, and well, it was impressive to see how well-preserved some of the founders of the environmental movement look these day - like Stewart Udall who at 87 still looks darn good, as did the other pioneers of the movement. It was pretty strong imaging for getting it right. http://www.earthdaysmovie.com/
So...I'm not quite sure of the common thread here. Except the ongoing attempt to paint what it is that defines Mainers. I think I'm back to my first sketches. Rugged individualism. Strong opinions. and .....maybe survivalism, which I think better captures this whole idea of sustainable living -which like 'organic' and 'natural' is wrought with problematic rhetoric. Anyway, as I head into winter, I am happy to be battening down the hatches with my new neighbors, sharing a common "cultchah."
No comments:
Post a Comment